Santa Fe School District v. Doe Analysis

Santa Fe School District v. Doe Analysis Oscar Martinez The Santa Fe Independent School District promoted the dominant Baptist Religion, and just imagine how it would feel to go to class and out of nowhere hear your teacher say okay class, we will begin class today by giving a small prayer would that make you feel uncomfortable? Would you stop your professor from moving forward with the prayer? Students within the school were facing something similar. The Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe case came to the supreme court when the school elected a student as the schools student council chaplain, and then that elected student would deliver a prayer over the PA system at every home game that the varsity football team would have. Prayers were not only offered in football games, but also at graduation ceremonies. It wasnt until two students and their mothers (one Mormon and one Catholic) file a suit against the school district. They argued that these practices were against the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. As the suit was pending the school district then decided to take action by making a different policy. In the new policy there were going to be two student elections. The first was to determine whether prayers should be deliver at games, and the second, a student was to be elected as the spokesman. After changing and modifying the policy, The Fifth Circuit held that even do the policy has been changed, the prayers at the football games were still invalid. Then the big question rose even more, whether does the Santa Fe Independent School District policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? Then the Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe case officially came to the supreme court in the year 2000. The case was indeed an establishment case, and the case was argued on March 29, 2000 and was decided on June 19, 2000. In the oral argument the petitioner was the Santa Fe Independent School District and Doe was the respondent. Jay Alan Sekulow argued the cause for the petitioner. Hes main argument was that There, in concluding that a prayer delivered by a rabbi at a graduation ceremony violated the Establishment Clause, the Court held that, at a minimum, the Constitution guarantees that government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise, or otherwise act in a way that establishes a state religion or religious faith, or tends to do so. Anthony P. Griffin argued the caused for the respondent. He had two main arguments, his first The District argues unpersuasively that these principles are inapplicable because the policys messages are private student speech, not public speech. The delivery of a message such as the invocation here on school property, at school-sponsored events, over the schools public address system, by a speaker representing the student body, under t he supervision of school faculty, and pursuant to a school policy that explicitly and implicitly encourages public prayer is not properly characterized as private speech. The second main argument he had was While the suit was pending, the District adopted a new policy, which permitted, but did not require, student-initiated and student-led prayer at all the home games and which authorized two student elections, the first to determine whether invocations should be delivered at games, and the second to select the spokesperson to deliver them. The policy involves both perceived and actual endorsement of religion, declaring that the student elections take place because the District has chosen to permit student-delivered invocations, that the invocation shall be conducted by the high school student council. At the end, the decision was a yes, delivering prayers over the PA system is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It was a 6-3 opinion delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens. The Court concluded that the football game prayers were public speech authorized by a government policy and taking place on government property at govern ment-sponsored school-related events and that the Districts policy involved both perceived and actual government endorsement of the delivery of prayer at important school events. Such speech is not properly characterized as private and this was writing majority by Justice Stevens. In Corbett, there is a similar case that is very similar to Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe case. Corbett states The Court has also held, in Lee v. Weisman (505 U.S. 577, 1992), that the practice of asking clergy to offer prayers of invocation and benediction at the beginning and end of public high school graduation ceremonies is unconstitutional, as is the practice of offering prayers before public school sporting events (Corbett 138). In this case the big question Does the inclusion of clergy who offer prayers at official public school ceremonies violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? It was also a decided as a yes. In a 5-to-4 decision, the Court held that government involvement in this case creates a state-sponsored and state-directed religious exercise in a public school. Such conduct conflicts with settled rules proscribing prayer for students. The schools rule creates subtle and indirect coercion (students must stand respectfully and silently), fo rcing students to act in ways which establish a state religion. The cornerstone principle of the Establishment Clause is that government may not compose official prayers to recite as part of a religious program carried on by government. Both cases are very similar and both have to do with prayers at school events. Bringing prayers into graduation ceremonies and school sport games is basically forcing students to do something and its very uncomfortable. Besides also bringing prayer into schools is like saying theres a specific religion in this state or school therefore if you want to attend here, you will be doing these specific practices. Works Cited Corbett, Michael, and Julia Corbett Hemeyer. Politics and Religion in the United States 2nd edition. New York: Routledge Pub, 2014. Print. Lee v. Weisman. 505 U.S 577. Supreme Court of the US. 1992. Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, n.d. Dec 14, 2016. Rodman, Rosamond. Ever the Twain Shall Meet: Religion Politics in the U.S. San Diego: Cognella Academic Publishing, 2015. Print Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe. 530 U.S 290. Supreme Court of the US. 2000. Oyez. Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, n.d. Dec 14, 2016

Soliloquy Essays - Analysis of Hamlets Soliloquies :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Analysis of Hamlet's Soliloquies "To be or not to be--that is the question..." Many people incorrectly interpret those famous words of Hamlet's, not knowing the true meaning or background behind his speech. In his soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates whether or not he should take it upon himself to act accordingly to his uncle's/step-father's crime against his own father. However, later on in the play, Hamlet realizes Fortinbras' resolve and his quest for victory. By witnessing Fortinbras and his actions, Hamlet comes to realize that he has no inner struggle and sees the actions that he must take in order to bring inner peace to himself and avenge his father's murder. In his most famous soliloquy, Hamlet ponders whether he should take action against his "sea of troubles" and seek revenge for his father's death or live with the pain of his father's murder. Hamlet's weakness is later illustrated when he passes up the opportunity to kill Claudius by rationalizing that he has made peace with God, therefore sending him to Heaven if he were to be slain. In addition to his proposal of vengeance, he also contemplates whether it is better to stay alive or commit suicide. "To die, to sleep--/No more--and by a sleep to say we end/The heartache and the thousand natural shocks/That flash is heir to--'tis a consummation/Devoutly to be wished" (III,i,68-71). If he were to sleep, he feels that all his troubles would vanish, and this would not be such a bad thing. However, he says that if he were to sleep, he might have disturbing dreams while in slumber which would be wholly undesirable. Hamlet knows that what he wishes to do to his uncle is sinful an d wrong, but it is this train of thought that leaves him in a state of anxiety. This soliloquy portrays Hamlet as a sort of coward because he can not act upon his own emotions and desires. In order to escape his heartache, he cowardly thinks about killing himself. Nevertheless, Hamlet's resolve makes a dramatic turn by the time he recites his soliloquy of Act IV, Scene iv. In his last soliloquy, it is obvious that Hamlet's state of mind has gone through a metamorphosis. Unlike his "To be or not to be" soliloquy, Hamlet knows how much of a coward he has been and illustrates this in his final soliloquy by comparing himself to Fortinbras. Soliloquy Essays - Analysis of Hamlet's Soliloquies :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays Analysis of Hamlet's Soliloquies "To be or not to be--that is the question..." Many people incorrectly interpret those famous words of Hamlet's, not knowing the true meaning or background behind his speech. In his soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates whether or not he should take it upon himself to act accordingly to his uncle's/step-father's crime against his own father. However, later on in the play, Hamlet realizes Fortinbras' resolve and his quest for victory. By witnessing Fortinbras and his actions, Hamlet comes to realize that he has no inner struggle and sees the actions that he must take in order to bring inner peace to himself and avenge his father's murder. In his most famous soliloquy, Hamlet ponders whether he should take action against his "sea of troubles" and seek revenge for his father's death or live with the pain of his father's murder. Hamlet's weakness is later illustrated when he passes up the opportunity to kill Claudius by rationalizing that he has made peace with God, therefore sending him to Heaven if he were to be slain. In addition to his proposal of vengeance, he also contemplates whether it is better to stay alive or commit suicide. "To die, to sleep--/No more--and by a sleep to say we end/The heartache and the thousand natural shocks/That flash is heir to--'tis a consummation/Devoutly to be wished" (III,i,68-71). If he were to sleep, he feels that all his troubles would vanish, and this would not be such a bad thing. However, he says that if he were to sleep, he might have disturbing dreams while in slumber which would be wholly undesirable. Hamlet knows that what he wishes to do to his uncle is sinful an d wrong, but it is this train of thought that leaves him in a state of anxiety. This soliloquy portrays Hamlet as a sort of coward because he can not act upon his own emotions and desires. In order to escape his heartache, he cowardly thinks about killing himself. Nevertheless, Hamlet's resolve makes a dramatic turn by the time he recites his soliloquy of Act IV, Scene iv. In his last soliloquy, it is obvious that Hamlet's state of mind has gone through a metamorphosis. Unlike his "To be or not to be" soliloquy, Hamlet knows how much of a coward he has been and illustrates this in his final soliloquy by comparing himself to Fortinbras.

Advertising :: essays research papers

For this newspaper report I have selected two ads for trips to Greece in the Greek newspaper, the Orthodox Observer. The travel agencies here are "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" and "PHAROS TRAVEL". Both ads offer trips to Greece with really good deals from all over the United States. "Markos Travel Service" offers non-stop flights on Jumbo 747 with Olympic Airways and says that it has unbelievable low rates from anywhere in the United States. The prices at "Markos Travel Service start from $289.00 the one way ticket which departs from New York (JFK) and arrives in Athens Greece, and the round trip ticket starts from $489.00. Now with "PHAROS TRAVEL" he has the one way ticket $299.00 and the round trip $498.00 plus tax (which usually the tax ranges between $40-60.00 .This travel agency ad tells us about the children's fare too and it also gives a 20% off discount to all corporate accounts with either domestic or international trips. It also deals with add on from all over the United States too and it actually gives us the prices to it. "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" doesn't show these features in its ad not even for the children's price or the discount price. Another difference between the two is that "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" has only one office in Connecticut but "PHAROS TRAVEL" has two locations, one in Manhattan and the other one in Astoria, which makes it much more easier to go too. Both of the travel agencies ads gives us a nation wide toll-free number so you can call them from wherever you are without you being charged. I consider the "PHAROS TRAVEL" ad much more effective than the "MARKOS SERVICE TRAVEL" because first of all "PHAROS TRAVEL" is much more known and has many more years than "MARKOS SERVICE TRAVEL" in business. Also because its ad has everything basically there about what you need to know, far more details and I can say more reasonable prices. "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" may have on the add cheaper prices but when you call in Advertising :: essays research papers For this newspaper report I have selected two ads for trips to Greece in the Greek newspaper, the Orthodox Observer. The travel agencies here are "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" and "PHAROS TRAVEL". Both ads offer trips to Greece with really good deals from all over the United States. "Markos Travel Service" offers non-stop flights on Jumbo 747 with Olympic Airways and says that it has unbelievable low rates from anywhere in the United States. The prices at "Markos Travel Service start from $289.00 the one way ticket which departs from New York (JFK) and arrives in Athens Greece, and the round trip ticket starts from $489.00. Now with "PHAROS TRAVEL" he has the one way ticket $299.00 and the round trip $498.00 plus tax (which usually the tax ranges between $40-60.00 .This travel agency ad tells us about the children's fare too and it also gives a 20% off discount to all corporate accounts with either domestic or international trips. It also deals with add on from all over the United States too and it actually gives us the prices to it. "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" doesn't show these features in its ad not even for the children's price or the discount price. Another difference between the two is that "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" has only one office in Connecticut but "PHAROS TRAVEL" has two locations, one in Manhattan and the other one in Astoria, which makes it much more easier to go too. Both of the travel agencies ads gives us a nation wide toll-free number so you can call them from wherever you are without you being charged. I consider the "PHAROS TRAVEL" ad much more effective than the "MARKOS SERVICE TRAVEL" because first of all "PHAROS TRAVEL" is much more known and has many more years than "MARKOS SERVICE TRAVEL" in business. Also because its ad has everything basically there about what you need to know, far more details and I can say more reasonable prices. "MARKOS TRAVEL SERVICE" may have on the add cheaper prices but when you call in

Difficult Conversations Essay

Great concepts on how communication goes and misses our intended mark. I believe most people begin communicating with the best of intentions, then let their emotions get in the way to forget what the intended outcomes were. Understanding our own emotions, most of us are lost are lost but at the end we all want what’s best for ourselves and what’s best for ourselves is to get along with everyone. This is something that I have pondered and wondered for quite some time now. I often struggled with the reasons why people were confrontational. It made no sense to put any one down or say they are in the wrong. I always have been told treat people well with kindness and respect. But communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. A difficult conversation is any conversation that you dread and perhaps seek to avoid, if possible. There are the situations that keep you up at night in anticipation that you put off or face up to like bad medicine. Our typical approach to the complexity of what happened, the reality of feeling and potential threat to our identity tend to make our conversations more difficult, rather than more productive, often escalating conflict, hurting feelings and damaging relationships indeed, it is our intuitive understanding of this danger that leads us to want to avoid such conversations given how we are likely to handle the conversations, our fears are justified. But unfortunately sometimes assumptions make avoiding a conversation just as problematic. We continue to feel upset. We may feel like such a wimp for not standing up for ourselves. The problem gets worse, since we have done nothing to change the other person’s view or give them the benefit of our view. And the relationship deteriorates anyway, as our lead us to distance and disconnect.

Comparison between Lennie Smalls and Isaac Statchard Essay

These two texts, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† and â€Å"The Ostler†, seem extremely different when you read them through. Once you have thought about them though, they do have many similarities. The two texts are set in very different times with many social, historical and cultural differences. â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is about two friends who are looking for work during the Great Depression. â€Å"The Ostler† is about a stable buck who has a dream, which becomes reality but ends in a tragic way. Both texts are set in different times and both the characters come from very different backgrounds. Lennie, for instance, has some form of disorder, which affects his speech and memory, and he had been looked after for all of his life. Isaac has lead a very conservative but unlucky life. There are many similarities despite their obvious and not so obvious differences. After the excitements of the 1830s and ’40s, mid-Victorian England was relatively quiet, with the family being regarded by most mid-Victorians as the central institution in society. This is extremely likely to have something to do with Isaac wanting to settle down. The differences in the rights people had were quite shocking. For instance women didn’t have the vote and men were judged whether they were allowed to vote on the size of their estate. The U.S. economy had gone into depression six months earlier; the Great Depression may be said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of stock-market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929. The result was a large decrease in output and large increase in unemployment. There are similarities linking the backgrounds of the two texts. The employment situation is similar as in â€Å"The Ostler† it is hard to get casual work and in America where â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is set work, is almost non-existent. Women are considered the lower sex and they both have pretty much the same position in, living at home and tending to children etc. We are introduced to Isaac in a dream, in which it tells his story we think but really, it is foreseeing what is going to happen to him. It is a bit confusing for the reader because we get no information about setting or what has happened, we are launched into it knowing nothing. It changes narrators in the third column, â€Å"after a little hesitation, he compiles with my request. Some years ago†. This is where the text leaves his dream and starts the whole story over again but in greater detail. We know that Isaac lacks intelligence by his mother saying that he has a poor memory. I think Collins has chosen a protagonist such as Isaac because he is a very normal person. I think he wanted to create a character that people could almost relate to and look into their personality. Collins creates a seemingly real character by creating a life and a lifestyle that he follows. Every aspect of a person’s life seems to be covered. He takes the reader into the mind of Isaac and you could almost control him after you have read the text because it is so detailed. We are introduced to Lennie Smalls after he and George are on the run from their native Californian town, Weed after Lennie is involved in an incident with a women. We learn in section one that Lennie is travelling with a friend, George Milton who is like a Father to Lennie. We find out that he is a very large and slow man and he has a very pleasant temperament from what we read. Lennie’s description is significant. He is a â€Å"huge man† and â€Å"dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws† and also the way he speaks: â€Å"where we goin’, George†. The descriptions from other characters, â€Å"a child’s mind locked inside a mans body†, also when George is talking to the head of the ranch he describes Lennie as not being very intelligent. Steinbeck comes across very truthful in the way he describes Lennie he uses words, which make us build up images in our minds. Steinbeck has used words such as ‘gentle giant’, ‘huge’ and ‘nice fella’. The way he is described is a complete contrast to his personality. I think he uses these words to show that Lennie does have strengths but he also has quite a considerable number of weaknesses such as his speech. Lennie has been compared to several animals throughout the first section of the book. I think Lennie’s characteristics are either similar to these animals, or he is copying them.It is obvious that he has a liking for animals, especially rabbits. Third person narrative has been used effectively, it gives the reader the story from different points of view which brings out different things in characters which you may not have got otherwise. Lennie and Isaac are surprisingly similar; they are both people anyone I believe can relate to in some way or another. Neither of them are particularly bright especially Lennie who suffers from an unspecified illness. They both want different lifestyles. Lennie wants to tend the rabbits and Isaac wants to get married. They are in very different circumstances at the start and the whole way throughout the books, Isaac living with his mother and having her support and Lennie having no family. George is not really the same kind of support. Lennie looks upon George as a friend not a parent figure. Steinbeck’s way of developing characters is similar to Collins. He tries to make the characters seem as realistic as possible. He gives them each their own way of doing things. The way Steinbeck has done it makes you want to read on because you feel closer to the characters and you almost feel a part of them and you experience there emotions and thoughts. Lennie has a disability, which affects his speech, and this I think is the reason for such short sentences from him. I do not think he has the intelligence to put together a large sentence. A few examples of his dialogue, â€Å"I am not takin’ it away jus’ for meanness† and â€Å"I ain’t gonna say nothin'†. Using slang, colloquialisms are effective because it makes it a bit more realistic. It is using terminology, which the characters would have done. Some examples of this are â€Å"I think Curley’s married a †tart† said by Candy or â€Å"an live of the fat of the land† said by Lennie. It is all part of developing a character you have to get every characteristic right. Collins describes Mrs Scatchard with words that describe the mother. He uses positive descriptions with words like happy. She is a typical mother person who looks out for her son and tries to do the best for him. We know she is quick and witty unlike her son because when Isaac comes to her with his problem she takes down a description of the girl and puts it away. It is almost like she knows that Rebecca is going to turn up. We have learnt that she is very happy being a mother and loves her sons very much, she has fallen on hard times but still marches on she is determined to do her best for herself and her son. She is always there if he has a problem he has; we have a problem in the story of Rebecca being part of her son’s life. George in Chapter one is described as an exact opposite to Lennie. George has all the qualities that Lennie does not have. George has a hard time looking after Lennie. He finds all the food, work and shelter. He keeps Lennie in order taking things like dead mice away from him. George and Lennie are equally as close as Isaac and Mrs Scatchard. They both depend on the more intelligent one of each pair; they seem to be able to overcome a lot when they both work together. Collins makes us feel sympathetic with Rebecca, the first time you actually meet her he describes her as â€Å"a poorly dressed woman†. I think he is trying to mislead us he is making Rebecca look harmless when she is really a murderer. Our suspicions are aroused when Mrs Scatchard meets Rebecca and she wants to see the paper with the description on. Physiognomy has been used when Mrs Scatchard reacts to Rebecca. She treats Isaac with respect at first so that she can get close to him and lead him up to marriage. When she got close to him her attitude changes completely, she becomes violent towards Isaac it is like she wants to marry him for money then kill him off. Isaac’s mother stays the same the whole way throughout she continues to be supportive, she plays the mother figure. Rebecca is a very deceptive character she plays the nice she plays the innocent responsible adult to get really close to Isaac. When Mrs Scatchard meets Rebecca, she realises before Isaac that this person is really the person out to the dreams. Then Rebecca seems to use that as a turning point in her attitude towards Isaac. She becomes emotionally unstable and goes on the rampage with violence and hatred. We are introduced to Curley’s wife when she wonders into the bunk house. They are both considered as no go zones. George gives her a negative picture where as Lennie when he is in the stable playing with the pup thinks she is a nice person. Lennie is just too dumb to take on people’s real personality but he seems to charm people with him manor and people are nice back to him. Our reactions to Rebecca and Curley’s wife are very different. Rebecca we start to not like because we see her turn from good to evil or from loving Isaac to wanting to kill him. Curley’s wife on the other hand we do feel sorry for because she has no one to talk to nor anyone to socialise with, she is expected to just amuse herself and live in her own little word. Rebecca does deceive Isaac, she puts on a false character, which is the ideal person for Isaac to love and to hold, but then she changes her character completely, everything about her seems to change her behaviour, her attitude towards Isaac and they way she does everyday chores. Victorian writing was all about mystery or melodrama. This is certainly present in â€Å"†The Ostler†Ã¢â‚¬ . The mystery in this text revolves around the arrival of Rebecca. Melodrama I do not think is present that much in this text. Melodrama is all out over exaggerating movements and there is not much of this. When you try doing some background research into â€Å"The Ostler†, it is almost impossible. If you do some research into Collins, it always refers to his more famous pieces of writing. He does create tension very well by having Rebecca on the loose and having Isaac on the run. Collins is like Steinbeck he gives you an amazing wealth of knowledge about each character. He gives them a very life like personality. Steinbeck set his book in the 30’s, so it is obviously a lot more modern and up to date. He has set his book just outside Weed and as the author is American, he can relate to their way of life. He sets it just after he Great Depression and it was probably set on two real characters at the time. I think that the level of suspense is equally as high in Steinbeck’s novel because you do get signs on what is going to happen but you don’t know when they are going to happen. This is because they have their dream and it comes so close. It is very successful because it makes the reader want to read on. It gives small hints about what is going to happen â€Å"If you get into any trouble come and hide by river and wait for me† but it doesn’t make it clear what is going to happen. This makes the book more interesting and it makes you want to read on. The aim in â€Å"Of Mice and Men† was I think to show readers the lives of two normal everyday people after the depression and the recovery. I think Steinbeck would have written this to tell people what going through the depression was like and how much of a struggle it really was. â€Å"The Ostler† is really a mystery and I do not think there is really an aim to this book. Collins may have written this to show the readers an example of life in the 19th Century and wrapped a story into it to make it interesting. I preferred â€Å"Of Mice and Men† only because I felt I could relate more to it. I have seen these ranches in work just outside Weed which also made the story more interesting whilst reading it. It seemed to be a more normal text with things which definitely could have taken place, where as in â€Å"The Ostler† we don’t know where it is set or any other key details. The stories both portray two less than bright individuals who survive in life. I believe Lennie Smalls is les cleaver than Isaac Scatchard due to Lennie requiring George to live. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Ostler by Collins Dreams play a crucial role. Lennie used dreams as a way of inspiration where as Isaac Scatchard’s life was dictated by a dream he had, had in a hotel.

Through Deaf Eyes Essay

Trough Deaf Eyes is a documentary outlining the history of the early deaf communities. The movie illustrates and touches the numerous achievements the deaf community has accomplished over the past years. It is startling to see and know the many obstacles that deaf citizens had to go through here in America to reach â€Å"acceptance†; this can almost be compared to years when African Americans were segregated. People these days might think that deaf citizens have it hard, but I’m pretty sure it is nothing compared to those years when it was punishable or looked down upon to use sign language to communicate with your family and friends. It is frustrating to know that deaf people were once forced to assimilate instead of just letting them sign. One of the movies speakers hints a good point when she shares that because she spent so much time learning how to assimilate words like â€Å"dog, cat, milk, and ext.† deaf people usually fell behind in their other topics. I can really relate to this and how frustrating it is because when I moved from Mexico to the U.S. I didn’t know any English at all. It was almost like being deaf because whenever I wanted to communicate to my teachers or fellow classmates most of my communication came from my hands since they all spoke mostly English and could not understand what I was saying or asking. Twice a week I was pulled out from my home classroom to go to another â€Å"special classroom† where another teacher would teach me English little by little along with another 5 other students. Thanks to that I also fell behind in my other school subjects in class; when it came down to grammar, reading, science, and cursive I sucked. Because of this small relation I found the movie to be really interesting.

Case analysis of Barsetshire County Council (BCC) Essay

The case analysis of Barsetshire County Council (BCC) implies the need for the organizational and managerial change that it felt necessary and the aftermath of implementing the changes. As a public service organization the BCC felt that power should be devolved to the middle management and the change of organizational structure is necessary to meet the uprising demand of services by the locality and to effectively run the activities through out various departments. According to Weber’s analysis of bureaucracy, it is an omnipresent form of administration in modern society, where power and decision making authorities are held by the higher level of the organization. Development in the early twentieth century in scientific management associated with names such as Taylor, Urwick and Fayol, gave great support for bureaucratic systems of organization for their efficiency, stability and the elimination of waste. The larger the organization, the greater the degree of bureaucratization (Dawson). BCC, one of the larger county councils, formed as a bureaucratic structured public service organization, having a large number of employees over 28,000. The new CE of the BCC realized that power should be devolved to the middle management. He felt that the change in organization and management was necessary to ensure effective strategy implementation. According Nadler and Tushman(1990) the executive is a critical actor in the drama of organizational change. As being a bureaucratic organization, the BCC teamed up with new management view to turn it to a flexible, organic organization, which is more adaptable to new and unstable conditions (Burns, 1963). Now days it is obvious that, the very ability of an organization to survive will depend on its ability to master the process of change (Iverson 1996; kanter et al. 1992; Zimmerman 1991) .The situations that triggered this organizational change in BCC were referred as, though the organization was run by high professional philosophy, the business was not aimed at customer need and demands. But which is vital as a public service organization. Shortage of resources was also a norm in BCC and it was under tighter control of upper level management. And these all resulted from the narrow span of control, too many hierarchical steps of management and tightly prescribed role. It is necessary to explain here the term ‘Devolved management’. It means empowering the management team in an organization in decision making and taking initiatives as necessary and required for the operation of the organization. The situation is opposed to mechanistic systems; where decision making authority flows down from top to bottom manner, but more towards organismic system, which refers to more adaptive and lateral in environment (Burns, 1963). Thus the necessity of changes in the BCC was widely disseminated to the middle mangers and the key factors of the changes were widely emphasized. These key factors of organizational changes will be described shortly. Strategic management is the set of decisions and actions used to formulate and implement strategies that will provide a competitive superior fit between the organization and its environment as to achieve organizational goals (Prescot, 1986). Before initiating an organizational change, certain strategic planning must be done to ensure the proper functionality of the changed management. The essence of formulating strategy is choosing how the organization will be different (Porter, 1996). A well defined strategy helps the organization to achieve core competency, synergy and value creation. A devolved management, as in the case of BCC, means giving more power to the middle level management, who are in charge for implementing overall strategies and policies defined by top managers. So, top level management’s responsibility is to define a clear strategy and lead the mid level mangers toward it. As a public organization like BCC, customer orientation is a vital issue. So strategy of the changed organization should comply with this. Leadership is reciprocal, occurring among people (Kouzes and posner, 1990) leadership is people activity, distinct from administrative paper shuffling or problem-solving activity. It is dynamic and involves the use of power. The goal of senior executives in many corporations today is not simply to wield power bit also to give it away to people who can get jobs done (Stewart, 1989). A devolved management enables the managers to become more focused about the goals and being empowered to take initiative they can practice the leadership role in doing things like entrepreneurship, risk taking and proactive. Which enable the organization to be more effective and help the employees to be customer centered. The need for organizational change in BCC emphasized this by devolving power to the middle management. An effective work force is an asset of an organization. The employee in an organization, which is flatter and practices Human relations approach, performs better than others. Training and development of employees represent a planned effort by an organization to facilitate employees learning of job related behaviors (Keys and Wolfe, 1988). Also performance related rewards encourage employees to increase their effectiveness. BCC initiated performance related pay for white collar staff as the requirement of its organization change. As it is assumed that, they (white collar staffs) have a purely calculative involvement with the organization; so remunerative power is used to obtain their compliance (Etzioni, 1975). Also enriched jobs improve employee motivation and satisfaction and the company gets benefited from higher long-term productivity, reduced costs and happier employees (Dalton, 1998). An organization’s structure is defined by how tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated change agents can alter one or more of the key elements in an organization’s design. For an instance, departmental responsibilities can be removed, and span of control widened to make the organization flatter and less bureaucratic. In decentralized organization, having less hierarchy levels, decision authority is pushed downward to lower organization levels. Employees have their right to make decisions and to take initiative, which is the vital part of a devolved management. The organizations are now a days turning to Horizontal organizations. The vertical approach such as traditional functional structure does not work nay more, as tend is toward breaking down barriers between departments, and many companies are moving toward horizontal structure based on work processes rather than departmental functions (Hurwitz, 1996) Organizational culture refers to system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes a organization from others (Becker, 1982). It can act as a barrier to change as well. But the actions of top management have a major impact on the organizational culture (Hambrick and mason, 1984). In a flat dynamic organization, employees have their own say in decision making, initiate change and realize their accountability in their jobs, which are rare in bureaucratic hierarchical organization. In BCC, the top management identified that a new culture replacing the old one was necessary to initiate new devolved management. Now it is needed to evaluate whether the BCC was successful in implementing the changes. In a devolved management decision making power of the middle managers is more emphasized. Delegation, which means transfer of authority and responsibility to positions below the hierarchy also arise (Leana, 1986) in devolved management. It frees middle manger from seeking authority from the top level management whenever any situation needs instant attention. It also increases creativity and perception. As a result of devolution of management in BCC, the management of the Social service Department (SSD), the line mangers were given more power and control over decision making. That raised more accountability among the managers which enable the subordinates to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command (O’loughlin, 1990). In devolved management, the need for self esteem (Maslow, 1943) arises in empowered mangers. At also makes them running toward goal. Intentions to work toward a goal are a major source of work motivation (Locke, 1968). The performance of the managers ultimately increases. But too much accountability hampers the smooth functionalities of the managers. It creates hesitation and more complexity. It just like ‘Goal Blocking’- occurs a when person’s motivation has been aroused but attainment of goal is thwarted in some way. To maintain service, the managers need resources. The empowered management can use the allotted resource successfully despite scarcity. The mangers have more control and accountability in providing services as a result. In BSS after devolution, management properly focused on the needs of the client instead of resource led services customer oriented business was emphasized. Technology- driven workplace in which ideas, information, and relationships are becoming important, is the most dramatic element of organizational change. In BCC the introduction of computerized financial management enabled the mangers to increase decision making responsibilities in budgeting. But problem arises when top level management still have control on resource allocation after giving away the power to the middle level management to decide in using the recourses. It limits functionality. If mangers are given limited resources but are expected to improve work performance, it is a dilemma for the managers as the middle mangers of BCC faced after devolution. Moreover, the newly devolved management system had a good affect on specialists support staff of finance, personnel, and information departments. They were widely dispersed having their head of profession at the center to ensure proximity with the service and business needs instead of being centralized. This was a key feature of organizational change in BCC, ‘being close to the customers’. But some felt it as a predicament that, the communication gap was large as the specialist staffs were controlled centrally in pre-devolution period. So, still there remained some structural barriers in specialists’ service. The managers didn’t understand the activities of the specialist support staffs. Actually, though devolution evolved in SSD, the department of specialists was not ‘devolved’ fully. The devolution of management in BCC, specially in SSD (Social Service Department) was introduced both with the emergence of positive and negative aspects of it as every thing has those two sides naturally. But the balance on the positive side was far heavier than that of negative side. All middle mangers were happy (except few) with the new devolved management system, which empowered them to take decisions regarding their fields and to take initiative with out asking permission of higher authority. The accountability and the clarity aroused with in the employees. The efficiency of mangers to use the scarce resources according to the need and demand of consumers also increased. That means the mangers were becoming more responsive and cautious about the customers. The overall situation was improved in BCC after the devolution of power. But as the ‘dark side of the moon’, the devolved management faced some negative waves of thoughts from some mangers of BCC. They felt that, though they had been given additional responsibilities and decision making power, they had not been given the full authority. Some occurrences were opposed to the initiatives as the CE announced those to be needed for the organizational change and devolution of power to the middle management. Finally, it can be said that; the initiative and implementation of devolved management and organizational change for effective implementation of strategic planning in Barsetshire County Council (BCC), were totally appropriate as being public service organization. But in reality, fully devolved management cannot be possible for some factors. If the middle mangers are biased, or they are not totally focused on the goal, the devolved power they practice does not make any good to the organization. On the other hand if upper level management holds potential control over some major areas such as resource allocation of organization after devolution, when middle managers are expected to make decisions, major conflicts may likely arise between management team. Thus this will lead to frustration and job dissatisfaction among middle mangers. In a public service organization like BCC, consumer orientation is vital. So, upper level management and the middle level management’s dedication will be concentrated on achieving customer’s contention by providing required service. Even there is hoax about empowering mangers. Many empowerment initiatives fail to deliver their expected advantages and that employees can end up less committed than before (Cunningham and Hyman, 1999). Also empowerment may turn to disillusionment- because managers tend to assume that more interesting work is sufficient rewarding, they find themselves working much harder for the same remuneration (Cunningham et al, 1996). The introduction of Organizational development is then necessary for effective organizational change, which is a collection of planned- change interventions built on humanistic- democratic values that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being (Porras and Robertson, 1992). Now a days more and more organization are turning to devolved management, the top level managers believe , this would make the subordinates more goal oriented and the barriers and conflicts between management level would be removed, thus the organization could turn into a learning organization. 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